Emily Carr self-portrait donated to Vancouver Art Gallery. “Even as he plans his own art gallery in Whistler, Vancouver-based real estate developer Michael Audain has continued his philanthropic support for the arts, this time donating an important painting by Emily Carr to the Vancouver Art Gallery. The acquisition of “Emily and Lizzie”, announced Wednesday, will help fill a gap in the gallery’s collection of works by the renowned B.C. artist, said Ian Thom, a senior curator at the gallery.” Vancouver Sun, December 4, 2013

Slideshow: Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun’s Critical Canvases. “Earlier this fall, the British Columbia–based Coast Salish artist Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun was named a recipient of the prestigious Eiteljorg Contemporary Art Fellowship, an annual $25,000 grant and purchase prize awarded by the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art in Indianapolis, Indiana. It’s a well-earned distinction for Yuxweluptun, whose unapologetically critical art practice over the past three decades has become a touchstone for Indigenous artists both nationally and internationally.” Canadian Art, December 3, 2013

Time for province to clean up mess “Further money troubles mean more of the charity’s properties are headed for the auction block. The conservancy was hoping to sell the Modernist home for $1.6 million and use the money to help pay off its 200 or so creditors, which include former staff, owed some $350,000.” Vancouver Sun, December 3, 2013

Blim celebrates 10 years of community art. Community-based arts and crafts studio Blim (115 East Pender Street) will celebrate its 10-year anniversary Saturday (December 7), a milestone that Yuriko Iga never expected to see. When the Calgary-born artist and founder of Blim launched the Chinatown art space, she did not have a business plan and based her decision on instinct. Georgia Straight, December 4, 2013

North Vancouver

Expressionist Renderings: The Prints of Alistair Bell an ode to a master printmaker. “An introductory display of hand tools sets the tone for this exhibition of prints and drawings by Alistair Bell, on at North Vancouver’s Gordon Smith Gallery of Canadian Art. Humble and well-worn, the burins or dry-point needles for incising lines into copper plates, the knives and gouges for cutting images into wood, the old serving spoons adapted to pressing the paper against the inked block, all speak to the modesty, probity, and dedication of “the most distinguished printmaker working in British Columbia for a period of over sixty years”. Georgia Straight, December 4, 2013

On an Art, and a Love, that Resists Cynicism. “The Elora Centre for the Arts’s latest exhibition, “As Perennial as the Grass,” takes its title from the 1927 prose poem Desiderata by American writer Max Ehrmann. Latin for “desired things,” the poem reads as a thoughtful meditation on full and purposeful living. Widely reproduced on aspirational posters and famously appropriated by former prime minister Trudeau as part of a 1972 speech (after winning a minority government, he said that “no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should”), the text is familiar to many.” Canadian Art, December 5, 2013

Ottawa

Big Beat: The art of Christmas. At the end of the busiest year for visual arts that I’ve yet seen in Ottawa, it’s no surprise that there’s a stocking-full of art sales geared toward gift-giving. So let’s get straight to the facts of a few seasonal exhibitions, in no particular order …Ottawa Citizen, December 4, 2013

Detroit Leaders Scramble To Save Art Before Politicians Plunder It “Some of the city’s most powerful leaders are working furiously to fashion a grand bargain in which nonprofit foundations would put up $500 million to spin off the Detroit Institute of Arts from the city, and that money would be used to reduce pension cuts and help rebuild city services.” Detroit Free Press, December 5, 2013

How Do We Make Sure Detroit’s Art Sale Doesn’t Happen Again “The real goal, in a larger perspective, is how to de-monetize art. It’s too late for Detroit to think about such things–any attempt to keep its art out of the market would be vigorously protested by the city’s creditors–but the Detroit crisis has people thinking about how to avert such things in the future.” Washington Post, December 4, 2013

Julia Kaganskiy Appointed Director of New Museum Incubator Julia Kaganskiy has been named director of the New Museum’s Incubator for Art, Technology, and Design. Set to open in the summer of 2014, the incubator will host some 60 full- and part-time members, to be recruited by Kaganskiy. Art in America, December 5, 2013

Price For Norman Rockwell Smashes Record By far, the star of the bunch was the 1951 masterpiece Saying Grace, which sold for $46 million — a record for Rockwell’s art… The AP says the artist’s previous record of $15 million had been set by “Breaking Home Ties” at a 2006 Sotheby’s auction. NPR, December 4, 2013

Baltimore

Baltimore Museum: Judge – That Renoir Is Ours! “In effect, the motion asks federal Judge Leonie M. Brinkema to determine that the 1879 oil painting “Paysage Bords de Seine” belongs to the Baltimore museum and not to the 51-year-old Virginia woman who says she bought it at a flea market in 2009 for $7 as part of a box of odds and ends.” Baltimore Sun, December 4, 2013

Miami

Neon Works Light Up the Art Scene in Miami The British artist Tracey Emin is the subject of a show at the Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami, opening at the same time as Art Basel Miami Beach. New York Times, December 4, 2013

Miami Museum’s Challenge: The Beach While workers applied finishing touches to the Pérez Art Museum Miami just ahead of its grand opening, a walk-through revealed a structure that tries to marry culture and nature. New York Times, December 5, 2013

A Guide to Canadian Galleries at the Miami Fairs. Art Basel Miami Beach opens to the public tomorrow, while myriad satellite fairs and events are already up and running. Here are the main places to find Canadian galleries at the fairs. Canadian Art, December 4, 2013

Slideshow: A First Look at Art Basel Miami Beach. At the press preview for ABMB Canadian Art associate editor, David Balzer, spotted a variety of new works by Canadian and international artists. Among them are textile-based wall pieces by NSCAD alumnus Brent Wadden; a Nova section installation by Vancouver-based artist Erdem Tasdelen; and new sculptures by recent Gershon Iskowitz prize winner Geoffrey Farmer. Canadian Art, December 4, 2013

Miami by Air: An Interview with Bill Burns. “Canada promises to have an amusing (yet critical) presence at this week’s Miami fairs via Toronto artist Bill Burns. Over the past few years, Burns has produced drawings, postcards, sculptures, watercolours and digital mockups related to the art world’s ever-burgeoning power structures. In recent years, these works have included a proposal to affix a large sign reading “Hans Ulrich Obrist Priez Pour Nous” to the roof of Tate Modern and an installation in which the names of David Zwirner, Jeff Wall and others are carved into wooden logs. In Miami, Burns has hired an airplane to fly over South Beach with banners carrying messages like “Beatrix Ruf Protect Us” and “Adam Weinberg Remember Me.” Canadian Art, December 4, 2013

The Latest Leonardo Debate The discovery of a previously unknown painting by Leonardo never fails to stir up the experts, the press, and the public. There are, after all, only 15 to 20 paintings—finished and unfinished—that are generally attributed to him. ARTnews, December 5, 2013

Venice

Okwui Enwezor Appointed Director of Fifty-Sixth Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale’s board of directors has revealed that Okwui Enwezor will be director of the festival’s visual arts sector in 2015, and will curate the fifty-sixth international art exhibition at the Giardini and Arsenale. Artforum, December 4, 2013

Egypt

Egyptian Museum’s Antiquities And Staff Alike Suffer From Country’s Instability “The century-old home of Egypt’s mummies and King Tutankhamun’s treasures is trying to make the best out of the worst times of political turmoil. But the Egyptian Museum is taking a hammering on multiple levels, from riots on its doorstep to funding so meager it can’t keep up paper clip supplies for its staff.” Yahoo! (AP) December 3, 2013

International

The Collections of Artists The pieces that the art stars Jeff Koons, KAWS, Ugo Rondinone and Chuck Close hang in their dwellings reveal quite a lot about them — and their own work. New York Times, December 5, 2013